


the worst kind of dreams

by gaytimetraveller



Series: aimless tatsujun fluff [8]
Category: Persona 2
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 01:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10776360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaytimetraveller/pseuds/gaytimetraveller
Summary: Tatsuya dreams, but not well.





	the worst kind of dreams

So many nights, Tatsuya dreamed. He dreamed, and it wasn’t well, and he tossed and turned and couldn’t seem to sleep well at all. Some days he felt like his dreams were creeping and leaking into reality, crawling in just like those things he didn’t want to think about. On the nights when he was so tired his eyes started to burn he felt like he could feel the crawling under his skin, it made him want to curl up in the corner and keep quiet, yet also run as fast and far as he could.

He jumped at nearly anything in the dark, and after so many nights of laying in bed and watching the darkness swirl into at least one of his worst fears, he asked Jun if he could sleep with his head in his chest. He said he didn’t want to wake up and think he’d seen something in the darkness again; he meant he didn’t want to wake up feeling alone, panicking and reaching over, and only being able to see Jun dead or gone. Jun understood, he always seemed to understand. Tatsuya was grateful for that. Tatsuya was grateful he’d never had to wonder what life was like with someone who didn’t understand everything so completely, and that he understood in return, especially when he often understood so little about other people. It was nice.

There was just something awfully comforting about waking up next to a heartbeat rather than alone in the dark. Tatsuya just wasn’t a fan of the dark, especially when anything could look like everything, and it always seemed to twist into everything he didn’t want it to.

The worst was when it all started to creep into the daylight hours too, suddenly taking a midday nap in the living room instead of half a night’s sleep didn’t seem like such a good idea. Tatsuya grimaced at the sight of curtains blowing just nearly out of sight from on the couch. Of course he dozed off, he’d always fallen asleep generally anywhere that was warm and vaguely comfortable. He woke up screaming when the cat had jumped on his chest and he felt like he was drowning and being suffocated all over again.

Half asleep and heart pounding, shaking more than he thought he should be, Tatsuya shot up off the couch and stumbled out into the kitchen. He opened the fridge, looking around for the milk, and missing it even though it was right in front of him. It took a minute of blank staring before he actually grabbed the carton in one hand. He reached over for a glass left on the counter with the other hand as he blinked blurry eyes a few times, and for just a moment he could’ve sworn it’d grown legs, crawly scrambling _nasty_ legs, _oh god_ , he nearly screeched and somehow his flinch back managed to knock the glass off the counter. The noise of the glass shattering made him jump again, and he dropped the milk as well, and that went right all over the floor.

Tatsuya started shaking worse again, and the breathing he’d tried so hard to even out went ragged again. The whole situation made him feel more like he’d been stabbed (unfortunately a feeling he was familiar with) than he’d just broken a glass and spilled some milk. He blamed the nightmares. Always the nightmares. There was something that made it all feel far too overwhelming and Tatsuya couldn’t do more than try to stop himself from crying.

Jun walked back into the house minutes later, and ran over to Tatsuya at the sight of the state of the kitchen. Maya lingered near the door, a big bowl of leftover soup in one hand and the other had gone up to cover her mouth. She was frowning. Probably concerned. Tatsuya barely noticed, too busy sobbing into Jun’s arms, and Jun forgot, too busy trying to comfort. Maya gingerly walked into the kitchen, and laid the soup down on the table.

“I’ll just, leave this here? Do you want me for anything?”

Jun looked over, just as concerned as she was. “Can you stay for a while? Just, stay?” he sounded tired. Maya nodded immediately.

Maya started cleaning up the mess, she didn’t want to leave it, and she didn’t want to bother Tatsuya, he seemed too overwhelmed to deal with talking to any more than his shaky, between sobs attempts at an explanation to Jun. She dumped what she could sweep up of the glass in the trash, and decided vacuuming the rest could be left until everything had calmed down. She wasn’t the best at cleaning by a long shot, but she at least knew how to get things off the floor. She frowned at the sight of milk seeping into Tatsuya’s socks, but she didn’t want to bother him, not yet.

A while later, Tatsuya was back on the couch, and Jun was on his way to mop up the milk. Maya tapped him on the shoulder, still concerned. “Do you want me to stay still?”

“Please…I don’t want to leave him alone,”

“Of course not,”

Maya sat down next to Tatsuya, who was trying to stop himself from dozing off again, sleep deprivation and distress didn’t go well together in any way at all. “Are you feeling okay?” Maya asked, softly as she could. Tatsuya shook his head and Maya sighed. “Do you want a hug?” Tatsuya nodded quickly at that one.

Maya’s hugs were soft (often considered the best by everyone, she was a generally soft, squishy person), and Tatsuya relaxed into it. When Maya went to pull back she found he’d gone and fallen asleep, and she smiled and hoped desperately he wouldn’t have another nightmare. She hugged a little tighter, and Jun walked back in, quiet feet on soft carpet. He smiled, gently flopped down on the couch next to Maya.

“Thank you,” he whispered, nearly too quiet to hear.

“You know I’m always here to help, you can always call me,” Maya smiled, but the worry in her eyes didn’t leave.

“Of course,”

Tatsuya woke up a little while later, a blanket over his shoulders now, and Maya was still sat next to him, although no longer hugging him. She was having a conversation with Jun, hushed voices. Through groggy eyes and not quite clear yet ears he only saw Jun frown a little, and distantly say something about Maki. Tatsuya rumbled a soft, engine-like noise, and both of the other two looked at him, concern painted all over both of them, and a gentle relief. Jun vaguely realized the glass still hadn’t been vacuumed up.

“You didn’t have any nightmares again, did you hon?”

Tatsuya shook his head, Jun smiled.

Not long after, Maya got up to leave, and Jun thanked her. She hugged him, hugged Tatsuya, and walked off, pulling her phone out of her purse, likely to call someone, late somewhere.

That night, before they went to bed, Maya showed up at the door again, armed with a bag of night-lights. Cute little colourful ones. And a cute little lamp, one of those ones that projected stars on the walls. Both Tatsuya and Jun smiled.

That night, Tatsuya didn’t have any particular nightmares that he remembered. He was relieved.

The next night, they’d come back with a vengeance, but there was something more comforting about waking up not only next to that heartbeat he’d come to depend on, but also to a low colourful light on the walls and a sprinkling of stars when he looked up. He might’ve been on the verge of tears, but it was better than waking up and looking up to nothing but a wall of darkness.

Jun vaguely woke up, and gently pulled Tatsuya back down into laying down. He kissed him on the forehead, and Tatsuya settled back down, he felt one of Jun’s hands thread through his hair. Tatsuya sighed, falling back asleep. He woke up shaking again no more than two hours later. Jun shushed him back to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning, he hadn’t had what’d been his best night of sleep, but it’d been a relaxing one. He did panic for a moment, Jun was gone, and that had always been one of the worst feelings, but the sound of the vacuum going somewhere in the house quelled that.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tatsuya thought he saw something move the curtain. He buried his face in his pillow, pulled up the covers and let the vague buzz of the vacuum and weight of the comforters lull him halfway to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> have u ever thought abt tatsuya suou and cried a whole bunch
> 
> it just occurred to me i have a whole bunch of fics written in a notebook from that trip i got back from like. a week and a half ago now . god i am bad at keeping my ao3 in particular up to date on, just anything


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